I am so happy to share an excellent resource for travel here with our Wandering Educators today! Spotted by Locals is a resource site that encompasses 22 cities in Europe. Created by Sanne and Bart van Poll - Bart is our Spotted By Locals Editor! - Spotted by Locals lets you get the inside scoop on traveling in these cities. From local festivals to restaurants, to cool spots to explore, Spotted by Locals is a go-to guide when planning your trips - or, when you've traveling and need a quick hint for dinner or something to do (theater, cinema, music, shopping, etc.). They've won the Travel blog award 2009 from lonely planet, as well as Mashable's Open Web Awards 2009. We were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Bart and Sanne about Spotted by Locals - here's what they had to say...

WE: Please tell us about your site, SpottedByLocals.com...

SBL:  Spotted by Locals (www.SpottedbyLocals.com) is a series of cityblogs that offers travelers the opportunity to experience cities just like a local, by offering local tips through a  network of blogs on European cities. On the 22 cityblogs real locals write about the spots they regularly frequent in their city, and update this information regularly. All Spotters are presented prominently on the site with their real names, a picture and a detailed personal profile.

De Kaaskamer – Cheese & Delicatessen, by Gisela Clarke

WE: What was the genesis for Spotted By Locals?

SBL:  On a citytrip to Brussels we came up with the idea of Spotted by Locals. We had been to Brussels a couple of times before, but had some bad experiences with the guidebook we were carrying. Quite a few of the places we had wanted to visited before, described in the guidebook, were closed. We payed a lot to get into an apparantly hip club that was recommended in our guidebook, but there were hardly any visitors because everybody was at the other club that was now all the rage.

This time we decided to rely solely on tips from local Brussels inhabitants from the internet. To our surprise, it was very difficult to find updated information from locals in our language or English.

Eventually we found a personal blog by a guy we thought shared our taste. He wrote about a lot of subjects, but also about what he liked to do in Brussels. We decided to "follow" the tips he had, and go to the bars and restaurants he frequents, and walk around in the hidden local neighborhood that was certainly not in our paper guide. We had one of the best citytrips ever, because of the tips of this Brussels guy we don't even know!

On that trip, around a good Belgian beer, we decided to investigate the idea of a series of cityblogs, written by locals we'd personally meet. It'd be the perfect job for us... Back home, we found out this does not exist!

Since then, we have found a lot of supporting evidence that city travelers are increasingly looking to learn more about the local culture of their chosen destinations. They do not only want to "do a city" by visiting standard highlights. The huge success of the Couchsurfing project is an excellent proof of this.

WE: Who contributes to your site?

SBL:  Our authors (we call them "Spotters") are Spotted by Locals. We meet all Spotters in person, to make sure they’re really passionate about their city, spreak the local language, and really fit with into the Spotted by Locals concept. We travel about 50% of our time to meet all Spoters, and have met hundreds of very interesting people. At this moment, 110 Spotters are writing as a Spotter for Spotted by Locals.

One of our goals is to help launch the careers of our talented Spotters. Many of them are aspiring journalists, writers or photographers. We have already been able to publish quite a lot of pictures of them in other publications like  Guardian (UK), Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Blick (Switzerland), La Vanguardia (Spain) and various Dutch magazines.

WE:  Why is it important to get off the beaten track, and explore a city like a local?

SBL: By experiencing cities the local way, travelers learn about the culture and habits of the inhabitants. We are convinced a better understanding of different cultures will make the world a better place. We think we can make a very modest contribution with Spotted by Locals!

WE: Thanks so much, Sanne and Bart! I love digging into your site - it's inspirational! You've got a GREAT team. We highly recommend Spotted by Locals.

For more information, please see:
www.SpottedbyLocals.com

All photos courtesy and copyright of Spotted by Locals.